There was drama on the pitch late into the game after West Ham’s 18-year-old substitute Dan Potts received treatment on the pitch after a nasty-looking clash of heads with Bacary Sagna, resulting in a lengthy 12 minutes of injury time.

The Hammers started impressively, with Collison putting the visitors in the lead inside 20 minutes with a thundering drive that seemed to split straight through the Arsenal defence.

The Gunners equalised shortly after courtesy of German forward Podolski, who hit the ball as sweet as you like from outside the box which arrowed into the bottom-right corner of Jussi Jaaskelainen’s net.

West Ham managed to keep the scores level at half-time, but folded shortly after the re-start, with Giroud’s double, a tap-in from Walcott and a inspired back-heel goal from Carzola all coming in a 10 minute spell which is likely to haunt Hammers defender Guy Demel, who had a torrid time dealing with Podolski at right-back.

Arsenal remain in 6th place but are now only four points below rivals Tottenham in fourth, while West Ham sit in 12th, seven points above the relegation places.